Swedish Rally Day One

On the first day of the Swedish Rally, round two of the 2012 World Rally Championship, Jari-Matti Latvala has pulled away from Mikko Hirvonen to establish a 17-second lead in Rally Sweden after the second loop of stages. The duo had been in a close fight all day, with Ford driver Latvala edging ahead of his former team-mate Hirvonen - now in a Citroen - midway through the afternoon.
Hirvonen is now under pressure for second from Latvala's team-mate Petter Solberg, who looked after his tyres early in the afternoon so he could push hard later, winning SS9 as a result. Solberg was also able to pass Mads Ostberg (Adapta Ford), as the early leader struggled with brake issues this afternoon and a puzzling lack of speed. The two Norwegians are now 11s apart.
With Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) losing two minutes with a trip off the road and Dani Sordo parking his Mini with a technical problem on SS8, Evgeny Novikov now holds fifth for M-Sport Ford. Loeb has already recovered from 11th to seventh.